Grind Week is an annual tradition at Michigan State that is getting more notoriety by the year. This year, Michigan State hosted one of its best Grind Weeks to date with guys like Draymond Green, Kalin Lucas, Jase Richardson, Mateen Cleaves, and several other legends making their way back to campus to help Tom Izzo do a little culture building — and recruiting.
Izzo is no fool so he knows how to take advantage of Grind Week, usually reserving a spot or two for his most prized recruiting targets.
This year, he hosted five-star point guard Antonio Pemberton as well as four-star center Jaydn Jenkins. Both guys were squarely on Izzo’s radar and he was obviously aiming to make a splash, and he did.
On Friday, just five days after Grind Week ended, Michigan State picked up a commitment from Pemberton, a top-20 recruit in the 2027 class and the fifth-best point guard in America.
Simply put: Grind Week has become a cheat code.
Kansas, Tennessee, Ohio State, and several others were pursuing the five-star point guard from Massachusetts and he had a few official visits left on his fall schedule, but he decided to shut things down and immediately commit to Izzo and the Spartans after taking in his first Grind Week.
Cheat code.
Grind Week has become a Tom Izzo masterclass
Pemberton isn’t the first elite recruit to commit to Michigan State after taking in Grind Week. He follows a long line of Spartan recruits who have picked Michigan State after visiting during the biggest hoops recruiting weekend of the year.
Who else has done it? Well, one of the visitors from last weekend who is now playing in the NBA was one of the more notable Grind Week commits. Jase Richardson committed after attending Grind Week as a recruit and so did 2026 five-star shooting guard Jasiah Jervis.
Those are just the most recent ones and since it’s only been around since 2021, it has a pretty perfect track record.
It just helped Izzo land his top target less than a week after the visit.
You can already pencil in Cleaves Jr. for Grind Week next year. I’m just going to assume that Izzo is going to remain undefeated when he lands his legendary point guard’s son (fingers crossed).
Add us as a preferred source on Google